Unlocking the Future: The Imagination of Urban Writing and Culture in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction

Principle Investigator：Xiaoming Luo

This project aims to study contemporary Chinese science fiction, focusing especially on its imaginations of the “future.” While the imagination of the future is hinged on the writer’s imaginary capacity, it also reflects the writer’s understanding of China’s reality, including the expectation of the release of the nation’s technological ability, as well as the sadness of being overrun by such technological power. Thus, contemporary Chinese science fiction not only contains the imagination of China’s revolutionary history and state-building, but also reveals the contemporary predicament of neoliberal governance that arrested Chinese society and writers in the shadow of China’s Rise.